In light of the growth of e-commerce-and the fact that consumers and businesses are buying again, many of the discussions that we had at ProMat 2015 didn't revolve around the products and the equipment on display as much as it did the supplemental technology and solutions that are designed to optimize systems in an effort to work "smarter."

Collaboration isn't a new concept. What is new is how we collaborate. Innovative technologies such as social collaboration platforms, mobility applications and intelligent analytics and dashboards have become much more prominent within the supply chain. During this webcast we'll explore how combining these innovations with end-to-end supply chain visibility creates a prime opportunity to maximize your manufacturing Supply Chain IQ, enabling you to make better decisions and execute those decisions more quickly and profitably.

Cliff Waldman, Senior Economist for the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation commented today that, excluding the often volatile demand for transportation equipment, total new orders were up by 1.5 percent and have been modest in recent months. “Given the high degree of uncertainty in the global economic climate and from U.S. fiscal policy, it is something of an upside surprise that orders for long-lasting goods were flat in October, although this number has been volatile in recent months, rising by 9.2 percent in September after a 13.1 percent decline in August,

“In spite of a raft of global economic troubles and the prospect of a fiscal mess in the early part of the new year, orders for non-defense capital goods, excluding aircraft, a proxy for business equipment spending, were up by 1.7 percent in October, although they were flat on a year-over-year basis, corroborating the flat equipment and software spending growth seen during the third quarter of this year,” he added. “Clearly, business decision makers are engaging in just enough capital spending to keep their enterprises going. In a shaky global economy and a highly uncertain U.S. policy environment, there is not going to be much entrepreneurial business expansion of the type that would result from, and reinforce, a strong economic expansion.

“Recent data continue to suggest that U.S. factory sector growth, while having slowed significantly, is at least staying above water,” Waldman concluded. “In October, demand for the output of industry sectors that are fundamental to manufacturing supply chains—such as machinery, primary metals, and fabricated metals—were all positive, although machinery demand was down by 3.3 percent on a year-over year basis. While slow but positive growth remains the most likely path for U.S. manufacturing over the short-term, U.S. and world economies that still have the potential to deliver negative surprises suggest that the risks remain on the downside for U.S. goods producers.”

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In light of the growth of e-commerce-and the fact that consumers and businesses are buying again, many of the discussions that we had at ProMat 2015 didn't revolve around the products and the equipment on display as much as it did the supplemental technology and solutions that are designed to optimize systems in an effort to work "smarter."

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Josh Bond is an associate editor to Modern. Josh was formerly Modern’s lift truck columnist and contributing editor, has a degree in Journalism from Keene State College and has studied business management at Franklin Pierce. Contact Josh Bond